Could NFL have continued with Super Bowl without CBS?

Feb. 4, 2013
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CBS' Jim Nantz, right, was able to get on with his post-Super Bowl duties, such as interviewing winning Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, after the network also lost power during the 33-minute blackout early in the second half. Other announcers took over until CBS could restore power in its play-by-play booth. / Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

by Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports

by Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus tells USA TODAY Sports that his immediate reaction to the 33-minute Super Bowl XLVII power outage Sunday was "that we had a power problem in our truck and if the game had gone on it would have been a huge problem."

Then, McManus added, "While we were surprised and stunned, we were hoping it was just a power failure. ... But in those moments you have no idea what it is. And you're just trying to figure out how to cover it. ... I think the initial fear was that it was something more dangerous than a power failure."

CBS' first move from its production truck was to try to contact game announcer Jim Nantz, but the network production staffers could only reach him by calling his cell phone. With four to eight on-field cameras still working, McManus says, CBS managed to get sideline reporter Steve Tasker on-air in makeshift fashion.

"We could hear him, but he couldn't hear us," McManus said Monday.

CBS also scrambled to put up its collapsible pregame/halftime set at the Superdome in New Orleans, where the Baltimore Ravens were leading the San Francisco 49ers 28-6.

Responding to online criticism that CBS didn't get more information on-air more quickly, McManus says that "in retrospect, it would have been a good idea to get NFL officials on-camera. Like a lot of people, we didn't have lots of solid information, and we were trying our best to get it."

He says CBS staffers were asking lots of questions about what was going on: "But it wasn't as if there was any information we had that we weren't putting on the air."

Does McManus think the NFL, if it came down to this, would have played the game without CBS being able to cover it?

"It's tough to speculate about that," McManus said. "That's why we have backup power and more backup power in our facility. ... I don't know what we could have done. Even in my worst dreams, I haven't contemplated that."

Still, the game's TV ratings were nearly off-the-charts. CBS ended up with a 46.3% national rating, which towers over all other U.S. TV ratings but is down 1% from last year's New York Giants' victory against the New England Patriots on NBC and up slightly from the 2011 Super Bowl victory for the Green Bay Packers vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers on Fox.

Game coverage ratings for the Ravens' victory against the 49ers didn't include the time during the power outage. Advertisers pay to put commercials on during the game, and ratings are created to put values on what advertisers are buying.

But McManus is happy about getting a close game, even one that was delayed: "It looked like by the time the lights went out we were looking at another blowout."